Mark Leon Goldberg writes to inform me that apropos of my post on Mad Men, from a global and historical perspective today’s most important event is almost certainly the pledge fo $40 billion in new spending by governments, NGOs, philanthropies and private businesses on toward the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health:
If these commitments are fully implemented, the lives of 16 million women and children can potentially be saved. The commitments made today range from very specific policy initiatives (e.g. Bangladesh will train an additional 3,000 midwives; Liberia will increase health spending from 4% to 10% of its national budget; Yemen will “enforce a ministerial decree to provide free contraception to all women of reproductive age”) to new financial commitments from donors (e.g. UK will give $1.1 billion a year for maternal and child health programs between now and 2015; CARE International’s $1.8 billion pledge; the pharmaceutical company Merck is donating its HPV vaccine, GARDASIL).
And now you know.